Judy Berlfein – Encinitas Bike Walk

Vulcan Pedestrian Path Progress Report

Judy Berlfein — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:56:53 +0000

The North Vulcan Avenue Pedestrian Path project will construct a new decomposed granite(DG) pedestrian pathway between the railroad tracks and the west side of Vulcan Avenue, from Leucadia Blvd. to La Costa Avenue. Project design is underway with design completion anticipated in summer 2026.

Approximately 20 residents attended the city’s Citizen Participation Program (CPP) meeting on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, to get a peek at the proposed design and provide feedback to staff. This path does not replace the Coastal Rail Trail, which SANDAG is tasked with building. However, North County Transit District (NCTD) plans to double-track the rail line in this area. Thus, no permanent walkways or bikeways can be built until the location of the second track has been established.

History

This stretch of real estate is owned by NCTD. For many years, residents parked haphazardly in this location. Most cars were parked head-in (roughly), and there was no safe space for walkers or cyclists. To provide some organization, the city worked with NCTD several years ago to place curb stops in the area re-enforcing the head-in parking. This was a partial solution. Pedestrians and cyclists still had no safe space to navigate.

In response, some local northwest Leucadia residents encouraged the previous City Council to reorganize the curb stops, forcing cars to park parallel to create a de facto walking/cycling path. This was a game-changer, allowing residents to walk or cycle along the railroad track. The only shortcoming was the dirt-and-gravel surface.

To improve the pathway, the current City Council funded the design of a decomposed granite path. Funding for construction has not been secured.

You can view the presentation here.

Should We Spend $2 Million to Rip Out the Santa Fe Project?

Judy Berlfein — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:20:33 +0000

If you answered NO to that question, please join us at the Special City Council meeting on Wednesday, November 5, at 6 pm at Encinitas City Hall. If you want to learn more about the project, read on. . .

In 1936, when San Dieguito High School was constructed, Santa Fe Drive was a sleepy, dead-end road, ending at the stop of the hill. Over the years, homes were built along the road, and a neighborhood thrived. In the early 60s, a small hospital went in, and the new freeway was built. It wasn’t until the early ‘80s that Santa Fe punched through to El Camino Real and became an arterial for automobiles.

But Santa Fe isn’t a highway.

It’s a neighborhood with homes, grocery stores, pickleball courts and medical facilities. Ninety percent of the time, the road is relatively calm. It’s only during the morning commute and afternoon pick up at San Dieguito Academy that it becomes clogged with automobiles.

The Santa Fe Improvement project was designed to honor this neighborhood by slowing cars, so kids could safely walk or ride their bikes to school, and those without cars could comfortably walk to El Nopalito or Vons, or any of the other commercial establishments.

Construction of the project went on for too long, and parts of the new design need tweaking. But the core of the project is solid –

Narrowed lanes force cars to drive more slowly

Pre- and post-speed monitoring data show that cars are driving more slowly now.

	2023 (Pre-Construction)	2025 (Post-Construction)	Speed Reduction (-%)

Eastbound - 85th percentile	37 mph	29 mph	-8 mph (-22%)

Westbound - 85th percentile	41 mph	37 mph	-4 mph (-10%)

Source: City of Encinitas speed monitoring. 2023 data collected 12/18/23 – 12/20/23. 2025 data collected 7/17/25 to 8/12/25.

Extended sidewalks give pedestrians a safe place to walk

Previously, pedestrians and cyclists were forced to traverse uneven, narrow dirt surfaces.

Separated bike lanes keep cars away from bikes

Previously, cars queued up in the bike lane on the north side during pick up, preventing bicycle access, and crossed the bike lane on the south side to park, endangering cyclists.

Additional parking makes drivers happy

Several additional parking spots have been added, benefiting both patrons and businesses along Santa Fe Drive.

Unfortunately, the Encinitas City Council isn’t advocating for tweaking. They’re pushing to spend up to $2 million to potentially rip it out and start over. That would mean a lot of things –

More endless construction
Less money for fixing the drainage in Leucadia
Less money for paving streets
And less money to build more parks

If you’re looking for fiscal responsibility from your city government, ask your City Council members to find cost-effective solutions to the minor issues needing to be addressed in the Santa Fe project instead of spending millions of dollars and subjecting Encinitas residents to months of construction.

Contact Your Encinitas City Council Member

Mayor Bruce Ehlers	behlers@encinitasca.gov
Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes	jlyndes@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Jim O’Hara	johara@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Marco San Antonio	msanantonio@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Luke Shaffer	lshaffer@encinitasca.gov
City Clerk Kathy Hollywood	khollywood@encinitasca.gov

All Before/After images are courtesy of the City of Encinitas

Call To Action – Santa Fe Drive: Improve – Don’t Remove

Judy Berlfein — Mon, 26 May 2025 20:28:29 +0000

This Wednesday, May 28, the City Council will determine next steps for the Santa Fe Project. The City Council Agenda provides a full report, with suggested modifications.

Our motto is: Improve, Don’t Remove.

Please write to the City Council and encourage them to do the following:

Implement the cost-effective, required modifications to the Santa Fe West project as recommended by staff.
- Straighten bike lanes across intersections.
- Create parking cut throughs for drivers to access sidewalk.
- Add green striping and low profile speed bumps at driveways to alert drivers to cyclists.
Build the Santa Fe East project, which includes adding essential missing sidewalks and separated bike lanes from Evergreen to El Camino Real.
Don’t waste our precious tax money reconfiguring parking spaces. Rather, increase law enforcement ticketing of improperly parked automobiles.

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Mayor Ehlers, Deputy Mayor Lyndes, and Councilmembers O’Hara, Shaffer, and San Antonio,

Safety and fiscal responsibility — that is your task as City leaders. Please focus on both when evaluating modification options for the Santa Fe Project.

Improve – Don’t Remove!

I support the cost effective required modifications recommended by staff.

I support adding missing sidewalks and separated bike lanes to the whole Santa Fe corridor – as designed in the Santa Fe East project.

Don’t waste our precious tax money reconfiguring parking spaces. Rather, increase law enforcement ticketing of improperly parked automobiles.

Regards,

YOUR NAME

Mayor Bruce Ehlers	behlers@encinitasca.gov
Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes	jlyndes@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Jim O’Hara	johara@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Marco San Antonio	msanantonio@encinitasca.gov
Council Member Luke Shaffer	lshaffer@encinitasca.gov
City Clerk Kathy Hollywood	khollywood@encinitasca.gov

Below is a link to the official agenda report, which provides detailed information about the project, costs, and staff recommendations.

Agenda Report

Santa Fe Dr Project – Feedback Survey and Community Meeting

Judy Berlfein — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 17:08:31 +0000

Hello supporters,

The first phase of the Santa Fe project is complete! Please go check it out. Unfortunately, a vocal group is suggesting we should spend our limited tax dollars to remove the completed work.

Our motto is ‘Improve, don’t Remove!’

Offer your feedback to the city on this survey AND by attending the City Community Meeting on May 13th from 6pm-7:30pm in Council Chambers at Encinitas City Hall.

SURVEY LINK

The comment period will remain open until May 16, 2025.

The project offers many benefits.

Separated bike path
Narrowed lanes to slow traffic
Mid-block crossing to allow students to safely traverse Santa Fe
Increased parking capacity with head-out parking (15 additional spaces)
Landscaping with integrated stormwater treatments

Positive feedback is great. Constructive suggestions for improvement are also needed.

If you have questions, read this article for background or contact us at admin@encinitasbikewalk.org.

Safer Encinitas Streets at Risk: Urge City Council to Finish the Santa Fe Dr Project!

Judy Berlfein — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 16:45:05 +0000

The first phase of the Santa Fe Dr. project is due to open for business in the next week or two. Go and check it out!

In a nutshell – we’re making the street safer for people walking, biking, and driving. However, for various reasons (explained in the FAQs below), the project has taken MUCH longer than planned.

Unfortunately, due to the delay and the lack of understanding by many, a small group of vocal people is creating controversy and threatening the completion of the entire project as it was initially designed.

Our City Council needs to hear from you! They need to know that you support safe streets and that the Santa Fe Dr project should be completed as planned!!!

What's Below

Project Goals
Why is the project taking so long?
Why are the protected intersections being delayed?
What are the risks of not completing the project?
How you can help!
Excellent videos about the benefits of protected intersections and head-out-parking

FAQs about the Santa Fe Dr project:

Project Goals

This project is a visionary design that sets Encinitas apart as a leader in safe mobility for all. Key features such as protected intersections, separated bikeways, a midblock crosswalk and a pedestrian refuge island improve visibility and decrease collision risks creating a more predictable environment for all users. More specifically, in its intended and complete design, it accomplishes several things:

It enhances cyclists’ safety with a separate bikeway on the street’s eastbound and westbound sides.
It improves pedestrian safety with high visibility crosswalks at the intersections and a mid-street crosswalk with a Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon (RRFB), which increases motorist yielding by up to 98%.
The project narrows the motorist travel lane width, encouraging motorists to reduce their speed and pay more attention.
Head out angled parking increases the amount of on-street parking, improves safety for motorists when they get out of their vehicles and reduces collisions when motorists pull out of parking places.
The project, in its proposed entirety, includes protected intersections at MacKinnon Ave/Nardo Dr and Bonita Dr/Winsor Rd cross streets – yet our current City Council has delayed them, and their fate remains uncertain.

Why is the project taking so long?

Under every street is a city unto itself – utilities of all sorts, including sewer lines, water lines, etc. Unfortunately, there has been poor documentation of the exact location of these utilities. Multiple changes had to be made during construction to avoid utilities that had been unclear in the plans, thereby delaying the project.

Why are the protected intersections being delayed?

Due to delays and issues with the current contractor, the city staff thought it prudent to terminate the contract with the current contractor and hire a new contractor to complete the protected intersections.

At the same time, the new City Council has been critical of the project. They are convinced that no one likes it because the people who speak the loudest have voiced objections. Most of the objections are due to the long construction time of the project. That, of course, will cease being an issue once the project is completed. The City Council has delayed the completion, saying they want to get feedback on the current configuration of the project for several months before completing the protected intersections.

What are the risks of not completing the project?

The Santa Fe Dr. Project was designed as a holistic system that provides the maximum benefit for its users when all its components are integrated. City Council’s decision to delay (and potentially omit) the protected intersections compromises the effectiveness of the original design and increases the potential for collisions between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The city faces potential liability if they don’t protect the intersections at Nardo/MacKinnon and Windsor/Bonita. Due to the incomplete implementation of the project, cyclists entering the intersection are more vulnerable to being hit by motorists turning right onto these side streets. The protected intersections would slow right-turning cars and improve the visibility of pedestrians and cyclists.

We need your support!

The Santa Fe Dr project has the potential to improve the safety of students at San Diego Academy (SDA), provide additional convenience for Bobby Riggs patrons and ultimately enhance walkability and bikeability for the surrounding community. City Council will only complete this project to its full and intended design if they hear from Encinitas residents who support it.

For inspiration, here is a link to a letter I wrote to the Encinitas Advocate about the project.

To make it easier for you to contact your council member, here is a sample letter that you can use as is or rewrite in your own words.

Dear Mayor Ehlers, Deputy Mayor Lyndes, and Councilmembers O’Hara, Shaffer, and San Antonio,

Over the last several decades, the City of Encinitas has been steadily upgrading our streets, making them safer for cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers – with improved sidewalks, lots of buffered bike lanes, separated bike paths and joint-use walking and cycling paths. While we’ve made enormous progress, there is still much to do.

The Santa Fe Dr project has something for everyone – separated bike paths, improved sidewalks, a mid-block crossing, and additional parking. When fully completed, the intersections at Windsor/Bonita and Nardo/MacKinnon will be protected – creating order and safety from chaos. Don’t stop the project before it’s done. It will set the city up for liability if left incomplete.

Of course, the project has some shortcomings—as many innovative projects can. However, the overall safety benefits of this project eclipse the minor issues that can be assessed and resolved.

Keep SDA students safe! Keep Encinitans safe! Complete the Santa Fe Dr project.